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STREETS AHEAD: Kurt-Lee Arendse of the Bulls scores a try during the United Rugby Championship match against Ospreys in Swansea on Saturday. Picture: GERAINT NICHOLAS/GALLO IMAGES
STREETS AHEAD: Kurt-Lee Arendse of the Bulls scores a try during the United Rugby Championship match against Ospreys in Swansea on Saturday. Picture: GERAINT NICHOLAS/GALLO IMAGES

It was “Jekyll and Hyde” in a tale of two halves as the Bulls kept up their unbeaten run in the United Rugby Championship (URC) with a 29-19 win over the Ospreys in Swansea on Saturday night.

In one of the more bizarre games of the URC, the Bulls were on fire early on, scored four tries to get their bonus point and went up 26-0 after just 23 minutes, but then struggled in the second half as ill-discipline took them down to 13 men, and they ended the game with just 12 on the field after the officials forced them to remove another player for uncontested scrums.

While they were streets ahead of the Ospreys, who on this performance have a tough season ahead of them, the Bulls were their own worst enemies as the second half turned into damage control and Irish referee Eoghan Cross started making many of his decisions based more on the partisan howls of the crowd than on the game itself.

Cross and his officials ended off the night on a poor note, as they forced the Bulls to remove an extra player even though Johan Grobbelaar had returned to the field for the final scrum and technically the Bulls could scrum.

A lengthy to and fro with the sideline officials caused much confusion, with the Bulls eventually being forced to remove the extra player against their will.

It was a poor advertisement for the game and certainly one that will be quoted by those in favour of World Rugby’s decision to make red cards only a 20-minute sanction in new law trials.

The game came apart at the seams when David Kriel was red carded for a fend-off that Cross initially ruled legal, but then with the help of the big screen and the hometown crowd baying for blood, changed his mind and sent Kriel packing for the night.

While Kriel did lead with the forearm, there were mitigating circumstances, and it seemed to be more a fend-off than a strike with the forearm.

Nevertheless, Cross decided he struck the Ospreys scrumhalf in the neck with his elbow and gave Kriel the first red card of his Bulls career.

Two minutes later he ruled an attempted intercept by Elrigh Louw was legal, and then after crowd howls and another replay, changed his mind and yellow carded Louw, taking the Bulls down to 13 players.

Despite all of this, the Bulls held out, letting the Ospreys cross their line just once, but then a clash of heads, which was accidental, saw reserve prop Alutlutho Tshakweni shown yellow and get dispatched for the last nine minutes of the game.

• The Stormers forgot about the control that brought them victory the previous week and the reintroduction of the over-emphasis on flash that cost them this time last year contributed in no small measure to a comprehensive 38-7 defeat to Edinburgh at The Hive on Saturday.

Let it be said too though that it was a night where most of the 50/50 calls went against the Stormers, and there was also a pretty obvious error from referee Ben Whitehouse that effectively sparked the big swing in momentum that put Edinburgh on the road to the big win in a game that was close until then.

• The Sharks have made a habit of getting themselves out of jail and winning games they look destined to lose but it didn’t work for them in Treviso as hosts Benetton scored a surprisingly comprehensive 38-10 win.

For Benetton, it was a much-needed first win of what has been a disappointing season thus far, with former Sharks fullback Rhyno Smith scoring a brace of tries as the hosts followed up their unexpected win in Durban earlier this year with an even more emphatic one this time.

SuperSport.com

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